Eugenio Toussaint

Eugenio Toussaint Uhtohff (October 9, 1954 – February 8, 2011) was a Mexican composer, arranger and jazz musician. He began playing as a pianist in 1972 with the band "Odradek". In 1975, he took part in the jazz band "Blue Note" (which was also the name of his first album) and a year later he founded the Mexican band "Sacbé", one of the most important Mexican jazz bands. This band started October 2, 1976 and included brothers Enrique Toussaint on bass and Fernando Toussaint on drums, Mexican saxophone player Alejandro Campos was also part of the founding members of the band. In 1979 the band moved to the USA and did some work in Minneapolis with guitar player Will Sumner. In 1980, the Mexican Government gave him a scholarship and he moved to Los Angeles, California to study at the Dick Grove Music School, where he met Jon Crosse, a well established teacher and performer in the Los Angeles area. With Jon Crosse, a new version of Sacbé which was signed by the local Discovery/Trend label. "Street Corner", "Aztlan", and "Dos mundos" were international success. The same year, he studied orchestration with Dr. Albert Harris. He worked with Paul Anka and trumpet player Herb Alpert from 1982 to 1983. He returned to Mexico City in 1986 to compose concert music. He has been active in the worlds of jazz music and classical music. He was nominated for two Latin Grammy Awards for best classical music CD in 2001 with his album Gauguin and in 2004 with his Música de Cámara (Chamber Music). Most recently he released the album Oinos with his jazz trio including world-famous bass player Eddie Gómez and drummer Gabriel Puentes from Chile. A reformed version of Sacbe, as a trio with his two brothers, have performed at the Riviera Maya Jazz Festival, at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, at Haitis Port-au-Prince Jazz Festival and at the Philippines Jazz Festival in Manila and at the Java Jazz Festival in Jakarta. He traveled with Doc Severinsen's band (trumpet player that used to be musical conductor for The Tonight Show Band when Johnny Carson was the host), he also established a very important educational website called musycom.com that gives free music lessons over the internet. Eugenio died from an antidepressant's overdose on February 8, 2011 in Mexico City.4